


Wayward

by Samuel412



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Dark, Edgy but that's like the aesthetic, Gritty, Sure close enough, Yang uses bad language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-13 09:08:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29773878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samuel412/pseuds/Samuel412
Summary: Ruby and Yang find themselves hunted, in a world that won't leave them alone.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 21





	1. Toothpick

The grainy image on the old computer monitor flickered. For a moment, the security camera’s feed was replaced with a burst of white noise. The girl seated at the table, the focus of the camera’s gaze, seemed to jump about in place, going from laying face down, forehead rested on her arms, to slouching back in her chair. The camera seemed to lose focus for a moment, then readjusted, making her image clear again. The girl was idly tapping her fingers on the tabletop, causing a slight rattle to pass through the chains attached to her wrists. 

The computer monitor was in a darkened room, set on the desk next to another. Intermittently, similar bursts of static would interrupt the feeds on the monitors. Two monitors, two rooms, two prisoners. On the left monitor was the young one. She was a teenager, wearing a red hoodie, which she wore hood up, skewing her dark bangs over her eyes. She was chained to the table she sat at. The other had a noticeably different set-up; her chair featured massive armrests. They weren’t there for the sake of comfort; they allowed her arms to be strapped into place as tightly as her torso, legs, and head. 

The personnel in the dark security office stared at the monitors through a haze of cigarette smoke. There was one man, a comm tech, seated in an office chair, controlling the different security feeds. Behind him, the Chief of Police took a sip from his coffee mug. The Colonel next to him was staring at the feeds, and although he wasn’t consciously aware of it, his hand was hovering near the holster of his revolver. 

“Cams have been doing that,” the comm tech said, “Interference, focus breathing, shit like that. Might be a firmware issue.” 

The colonel took a drag from his cigarette. 

“It’s not a goddam firmware problem,” He said, “It’s them. Just being near them.” 

“We don’t know that’s the case,” The chief said, “We don’t know the extent of their abilities.” 

“No, we don’t,” The colonel said, “We probably can’t. Every second we keep them alive, we’re risking this facility and its personnel.” 

The chief took another sip of coffee, then set the mug down on the desk in front of him. He leaned in closer to the monitors, studying the girl on the left monitor. She certainly didn’t appear dangerous. 

“Don’t like the look of that one,” The Colonel said, “I doubt she really knows what she’s doing with... whatever it is. The other one we can use, if we give her the right incentive.” 

“It’s too early to say that,” The chief mused, “You look at these girls and you see a threat. I see potential. They’re young... the red one, there, she’s what, fifteen? They can be convinced to act in their own self-interest.” 

“One of them,” The Colonel said, “We’re only taking one of them.” 

“Our other two successful candidates-” 

“-rely on each other, as you’ve said. They’ll choose each other over you, someday.” 

“The instant I decide we can’t control these two, you do as you see fit,” The chief said, “Hell, wouldn’t be the first time I’ve put one of these things down myself. For the moment, this is my precinct, and they are under my custody.” 

The colonel let these words hang in the air a moment, then walked towards the door. 

“I’ll start, then,” He said, “I’ll start with the red one.” 

The chief looked towards him in surprise. He pushed his small, rounded glasses up his nose bridge. 

“James,” He said, “Do I have to be afraid of putting you and her in the same room?” 

Colonel Ironwood stroked his chin, then scoffed. 

“Trust me.” 

* * *

Ruby gave the chain linking the cuffs on her wrists another tug. It was threaded, from one cuff to the other, through a large steel loop bolted to the table’s surface. With less than a meter of chain, Ruby could adjust her position, even stand, but not much else. The cold metal contrasted strangely with the mess of bandages over her knuckles and fingers. She’d been sitting in this room for almost two hours, or maybe twenty minutes. It was hard to tell without a clock, and her perception of time was odd enough as it was. 

She could free herself from the table; that much she’d figured out. Getting out of the cuffs would be a trick, but the loop holding her to the table was held in place by just four screws. She could be free to move about the room in seconds, but what would it get her? Could she get through the door? Had the cops figured her out well enough to place barricades past the door she couldn’t get through? They were probably waiting, guns at the ready, to burst in and kill her the instant she did anything they didn’t like. How many of them could she take down first? No, they’d kill her eventually, and on the off-chance Yang was still alive, well, they’d surely take Ruby’s attempted escape as an excuse to kill them both. 

There was a noise like an electrical hum from the door, and then a heavy mechanical thud. After a moment, these two sounds repeated, and then a third time. By the third, Ruby had placed the odd sound as a heavy lock being remotely opened. She’d been right in her assumption that she wouldn’t have made it through the door. She sat up straight, anticipating the door opening. This would be the moment, if there was going to be one. Once the door opened, she could get out; Break the loop from the table, use the chain to snap the neck of whoever was coming in. Take her chances with the rest of the building. 

The door opened, and a man appeared in the door frame, dressed in a military-style long coat. He didn’t look like a cop. His hair was a little longer than a crew cut, with hints of gray. His face was clean-shaven, and firmly lined, as if carved out of stone. There were slight bags under his eyes, though there was no evidence of fatigue in his glare. Ruby wrapped her fingers around the chains, keeping the movement subtle as she could. The man stepped in and, quicker than Ruby had anticipated, the door swung shut behind him. Ruby’s shoulders slumped slightly; a movement she was sure the man saw. 

The man marched forward, pulling one side of his long coat open as he did. In a side holster beneath the coat was an ostentatiously large revolver. Ruby didn’t have enough experience with guns to guess the caliber, but she imagined one shot would be all the man needed to blow her head off. The man lowered a hand to the holster, and popped open the small leather strap with his thumb. Then, he let the coat fall back into place, leaving the revolver where it sat, ready to go. 

“If you were going to kill me, you wouldn’t make such a show of it,” Ruby said. 

“If I was going to kill you, I’d have the room gassed,” He said, “Take me opening that door as a sign that you have a way to survive tonight.” 

“Is my sister alive?” 

The man pulled out the chair across from Ruby. It made a dull scrape as it was dragged across stone. 

“She is. Would you like to talk about keeping her that way?” 

The world around Ruby became a swirling silver. The military man was frozen in place, his mouth still curled in the shape of his final syllable. He’d just begun descending into the chair; leaving him stuck in an almost hunch. Ruby clapped a hand over her mouth, fighting back tears. She wrapped her hands about her head, taking a few deep, desperate breaths. 

“Yang,” She whispered, “Christ. Yang. I’ll find you. We’ll get out of here.” 

She felt the warmth in her eyes well into a tear that spilled over one eyelid. The sensation shook her back to reality. She looked at the man. His body hadn’t visibly moved, though there was a nigh-imperceptible change in the position of his lips. She gave her eyes a quick wipe, and made sure to smear away the fallen tear from the table’s surface. Then, she recreated as best she could her original position. The world returned to full colour, and the man sat down. He glanced at her, as if he’d noticed an odd twitch. 

“If you’re lying to me,” Ruby said, “I’ll kill you.” 

“I would expect you to try,” He said, “Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Colonel James Ironwood, of the Atlas Initiative.” 

“Should I know what that is?” Ruby scoffed. 

“Part of my job is ensuring that you don’t,” Ironwood said, “The Atlas Initiative was activated six months ago. First among its objectives is identifying and neutralizing, well, people like you.” 

Ruby imagined a hundred different comebacks. By people like her, did he mean innocent people? Did he mean people trying to survive? People he and his thugs could kill without trial, in the name of public safety? If it was his job to neutralize people like her, why were people like her running amok? Why was Ottawa still a no-go zone? 

“Post-Humans,” Ruby said. 

“Is that the term these days?” Ironwood asked, “All of our documentation still uses ‘Aberrant’.” 

“Yeah,” Ruby said, “Yeah, all your documentation uses Aberrant. Uh huh.” 

“To be honest,” Ironwood said, “We’re still analyzing the footage we captured of you. Your sister, we understand, but you? Can you describe your Ability?” 

Ruby actually laughed. The question was absurd enough to provoke a response. 

“Sure! Would you like to know my one goddam weakness while I’m at it?” Ruby asked, “Let me just give you my fucking kryptonite.” 

Ironwood adjusted his position in his seat. Ruby could tell he meant for her to get another glimpse at the revolver. 

“We know you’re not teleporting,” Ironwood said, “And we know the... damage you did wasn’t telekinesis. I suspect some form of superhuman speed.” 

“How about a demonstration?” Ruby asked, “Uncuff me and time how long it takes me to kill my way to Yang.” 

“I also suspect that you’re bluffing,” Ironwood said, “If you were able to break yourself and your sister out of here, you’d have done it by now, and I’d figure out your ability by examining the pieces of anybody who got in your way. As I said, we’ve figured your sister out already, so if I have to go talk to her, the conversation will be much shorter. Tell me what you do.” 

Ruby looked up at the camera in the corner of the room. The little red blinking light. She imagined footage of her explaining her Ability being sent to every police precinct in the country. She sighed. 

“I’m fast,” She said, “Really fast. When I move, everything else, it’s like it’s frozen. I don’t... feel myself moving faster, but I can walk faster than a bullet. They just hang in the air- or inch along, I guess.” 

“That would explain you disappearing from the dashcam footage between frames of video,” Ironwood said, “It doesn’t explain how you sent a cop flying hard enough to crush his ribcage.” 

The sound of snapping bone replayed itself in Ruby’s head. 

“I punched him,” She said, “I turned the ability on, and I walked up and punched him. Three times, maybe. When people are frozen like that... it’s like punching a wall. But I can’t even guess how fast my fist was going. He was going to kill her. I didn’t have a choice.” 

“So, can you move other objects using that speed?” Ironwood asked, “Why not just take his gun?” 

“Because it was frozen, I just said it,” Ruby spat, “I could pull on the gun for a little while. Once I turned the Ability off, it would have leapt from his hand and took his fingers with it. But it was right next to Yang’s head. I was afraid she’d get a stray fingerbone through the skull.” 

“Would that kill her?” 

“I thought you had her figured out.” 

Ironwood placed his elbows on the tabletop, and interlaced his fingers. His glare at her was utterly unmoving; it was like he was a machine. 

“Miss Rose, from where you’re sitting, I’m sure it seems like you have very few options,” Ironwood said, “I want to assure you, you are overestimating the number. There is no escape for you. No freedom. No life that I do not control. You have two options, exactly two: An unceremonious death, or compliance.” 

Ruby tapped her fingers on the tabletop. She looked down at the metal loop again. Activate her Ability, and then pull really hard. Count to 30. When time went back to normal, the loop would tear off. The chain was small enough that she could carry it with her. She could get real creative with this chain if she needed to. 

“What kind of compliance?” 

* * *

The straps were so tight, Yang Xiao Long might as well have been wearing cement shoes. Everything, even her fingers were tightly secured in place. They knew; that much was obvious. They knew exactly what Yang would do if she was able to move. Careful as they were being, Yang doubted they knew for sure that it was enough. While she waited for a bullet in the head, or maybe a dissection, she took a small comfort in imagining they were terrified of her. 

It hadn’t been the way they’d caught Ruby. Yang had stood to face the SWAT team bursting into the room from every angle, and she’d taken a tasing and rubber bullet to the jaw for trying. That wouldn’t have worked on Ruby. They had to take Ruby by surprise. There wasn’t even any hint they’d been found out until Ruby stumbled into the living room, a tranquilizer dart in her neck. If they’d hit Yang with it instead, she’d probably have woken up surrounded by all the people Ruby had killed. They’d known who the priority target was. So why now the song and dance of treating Yang like she was the dangerous one? Was Ruby in the same level of restraints? The thought caused Yang to tense, and make another fruitless effort to tear herself free. 

They busted into the place Ruby and her had been crashing and got them both; her and her sister. They knew they were there because of what had happened by the diner. They’d been caught, because they were found out, because Ruby killed a cop, because Yang almost got herself killed, by being a selfish bitch. Yang had never felt what she felt for herself in this moment. 

There was an electric hum, followed by a heavy mechanical thud. A massive metal component of the steel door was rotating on the other side, sending out a grinding chorus of unseen gears. When the door finally opened, and swung inward with the inertia of a listing ship, Yang saw that it was almost a foot thick. She smiled at the idea that they thought that was enough; Like she would have any more difficulty just going through the wall. 

Two cops in riot gear entered, each carrying a bullpup SMG. They flanked the door on either side, keeping their weapons trained on her. 

“Showing off your toys, huh?” She hissed, “You look like they slapped Kevlar on a couple of rent-a-cops so you’d feel cool, playing army. Why don’t you both suck-” 

The words were caught in her mouth by the appearance of Ruby in the doorway. Her hoodie had been replaced by an orange jumpsuit, and chains wrapping her entire body. She wasn’t standing of her own volition, but was strapped to some sort of hand truck, like you would use to move a stack of boxes. A man in a military long coat stood behind her, a .357 revolver held to her head, angled so that Yang would see it. With his other hand, he reached around Ruby and gripped her chains. Yang sputtered for less than a second before she felt an anger burn through her entire body. 

“Get your fucking hands off her, you fuck! I’ll pull you apart! I'll pull your insides out!” 

“Yang, stop-” Ruby began. 

“Get that fucking gun away from her, cunt!” Yang screamed, “Big fucking man, huh? Why don’t you-” 

With one hand, Ironwood took hold of the hand truck’s grip and slid Ruby forward. He was followed by two more cops, both with shotguns. They waited until they were on either side of the man before training them on Ruby, keeping him out of the line of fire. 

“Yang!” Ruby shouted, “It’s okay! Stop!” 

Yang stopped screaming, but her teeth were gritted and her eyes burned. The man threatening her sister hadn’t even blinked during the outburst. 

“I’m okay, Yang, really,” Ruby said, “This was the only way they’d let me see you.” 

Yang took a few deep breaths. There was a strange red glimmer in her eye. Then, she blinked and it was gone. 

“Ruby,” Yang said, “It was me. I got us caught.” 

“No, Yang, we-” 

Ironwood took a step forward, in front of the hand truck with the bound girl on it. His eyes and Yang’s were locked onto each other like a contest of strength. He smirked, and raised his revolver, aiming behind him. The two guards flanking the door stepped to either side, so they weren’t directly behind Ruby. Yang’s eyes shot to Ruby, watching in terror as the man in the coat pulled the trigger. 

“ _Ruby!”_

The entire room was quicksilver. Yang’s face was caught in a primal scream. A cloud of gases was expanding from the barrel of the revolver; little wisps finding their way out of gaps around the cylinder. Usually, spotting a bullet in mid-air was tricky; they were dangerous little things that crept along the air currents, hiding in shadows until they reached a beam of light and sparkled across the room. This bullet was a hulking thing, shoving its way through the air, carrying with it a terrifying inertia. It was crossing the room from the gun, directly towards Ruby’s heart. She wouldn’t have long to deal with it. 

Looking down, she breathed a sigh of relief to see she’d brought the chains with her. Had they been frozen like everything and everyone else, getting out of them might have been tricky. She’d stopped everybody a few times while being carted over, testing how she might get loose. But those times, there hadn’t been a bullet on the way. 

Ruby found that her squirming actually offered progress; she got her hands free of the binds at her waist, though her wrists were still cuffed. She examined the cuffs, biting her lip. She looked at the bullet again, and nodded. 

“Please don’t blow my hands off,” Ruby whispered, “Don’t blow my hands off.” 

She held out her cuffed hands in front of the bullet. Her fingers avoided the metal as if it had been on a stove. She placed the tiny chain linking the cuffs in front of the giant point on the front of the lump of moving metal. The bullet inched forward, effortlessly deforming the chain in its path. Her hands able to move freely again, Ruby took hold of the length of chain about her body. The bullet was getting closer; soon, she’d have to squirm against the back of the hand truck to avoid it. She held the chain tight in her hand, each link so much heavier than those of the cuffs. With just the right positioning, she put the chain in the bullet’s path. Ruby stole another glance at Yang while the bullet made its way. 

The chain link that it struck melted out its way like butter. Ruby tossed either end of the chain over her shoulder and felt the bindings on the rest of her body laxing. She squirmed once again, and this time, the chains collapsed in a pile at her feet. Ruby looked down and saw that the chains glowed quicksilver; just like the floor, and the lights, and the mirror, and Yang. 

Ruby slipped to one side, finally clear of the bullet. It meandered over towards the hand truck, and the floor behind it. Ironwood still stared at Yang; the recoil of the shot was travelling up his arm. Ruby gave him the finger as she walked over to her sister. She threw her arms around Yang, feeling like she could take a breath for the first time since the dart had hit her in the neck. 

“Yang, I’m okay,” She whispered, “You haven’t seen it yet, but... but he missed. We’re going to get out of here.” 

Her sister was still screaming. Ruby whimpered at the sight and slipped her fingers into one of the straps on Yang’s arms. She pulled outward for a moment, until she could see the shape of her fingers in the fabric, and the threads began to tear themselves apart. She did the same with the other straps on that arm, and the bindings on both legs. That would be enough. 

“Yang,” Ruby said, “We’re going to be running, I think. You and me. We’re going have to get out of this city- I mean, they’ll follow us everywhere. But we can keep ahead of them, I bet, if we work together.” 

Ruby looked over the room. Frozen men with guns. 

“West. Out west. California. Isn’t that where...? But we’ll have to- can we go home and get Zwei? No, they would- they would lock our place down.” 

Ruby dropped to the floor, her legs wrapped under her. 

“Are they going to take care of Zwei?” She asked, “There’s nothing wrong with him. He’s a good dog. He isn’t like us. I... hope they treat him right.” 

She sat there a moment. 

“We’re going to... Yang. We’re going to have to hurt people sometimes to keep each other safe. You’ve done it for me. I think I’m ready to start.” 

She pulled herself to her feet, and looked about the room again. Ironwood, still absorbing the recoil, mid-blink. The two guards across the room, either side of the open door. Two guys with shotguns, aiming at an empty hand truck. One of them was starting to squint; a good reaction time. And past them all, the open steel door. 

“Oh,” Ruby said, “Well. In that case...” 

The man stepped forward. He looked into her eyes. He pointed that gun at Ruby. That hideous, massive gun. Yang felt a knot in her throat like nothing she’d ever felt. She screamed as he pulled the trigger. 

Yang blinked from the flash of the gunshot in the darkened room. The straps exploded from her body. Ruby was gone from the hand truck. The cylinder of Ironwood’s revolver popped out of the frame and went spinning across the room. One guard’s leg snapped to one side, the bone piercing the kevlar. The other’s head bent backwards, without the torso moving to join it. One of the shotgun assholes hit the one-way mirror and cracked it. The other asshole’s feet went out from under him and his head reached the ground far faster than gravity would have pulled it. Yang stood up; the restraints that remained coming away like tissue paper. Ironwood glanced back over his shoulder. 

Yang walked forward. Ironwood threw the left side of his coat out, reaching for the back-up holster. Yang’s fist slammed into him and he left the ground. He slammed into the wall after milliseconds in the air; cheap artifice of stone crumbling around him. He collapsed to the floor and stayed there. Yang glanced towards the one-way mirror, then headed for the door. There was distant gunfire. In the blink of an eye, Ruby appeared in the doorway, holding a can of spray paint. 

“I blocked off some of the hallways and I left signs leading to the fire escape,” Ruby said, panting. 

“They could have drones in the air,” Yang said, “Our best shot is driving.” 

Barked orders could be heard down the hall. 

“Right,” Ruby said. 

She disappeared. Yang went in the direction of the abrupt shouts of pain. 

A few minutes later, Yang slipped, quietly as she could, into the garage. The moment she was through the door, a broom in a bucket leaning against a nearby wall launched itself into the door handles, jamming the aperture shut. Outside, a vending machine had fallen over, skewing drinks across the staircase. Ruby stood beside Yang once again. 

“You’ve been practicing,” Yang said. 

“Yeah.” 

Yang slid behind the seat of a personal vehicle that had been left in the corner of the parking lot, separate from the cruisers. It was a modern four-door, only making a meager attempt at the aesthetic of an older car, but Yang liked the colour. She popped the wiring from the bottom of the steering wheel and began stripping the correct ends with her fingernails. 

“Think you could hotwire a car?” Yang asked Ruby, “You know, while you’re doing your thing?” 

“Wires are weird,” Ruby said, “They don’t behave the way you expect them to.” 

Yang had only now noticed Ruby had her hoodie back. She was resting her hands in the pockets. 

“Uh huh,” Yang said. 

The car came to life. Yang sat back in the driver’s seat and put her hand on the wheel. Her knuckles were bruised from hitting that man. The military guy in the coat whose spine she’d crushed. Christ, she’d never punched anything that felt like that. But there was no blood. She hadn’t hit anyone else; not tonight. She threw the car into reverse and moved backwards. Back into forward gear and she turned to the garage door. 

“There’s an opener,” She called out the window. 

“A what?” 

“For the garage door.” 

“Okay,” Ruby said, “I’ll see that the coast is clear, then?” 

She walked over to the garage door. She looked back at the door that led in from the rest of the building. The two of them were still lost in the confusion, it seemed. She stood by the large metal barrier. Yang hit the button on the device clipped to the dash. The garage door began rising upwards. Sounds of city traffic, and the smells of greasy food and cigarette smoke and the industrial part of town swirling through the air. When the door had risen a meter, Ruby disappeared. Yang reached over, catching the passenger door latch with her middle finger. She pulled in, then shoved on the door with her finger tip. The door swung open hard against the hinges. 

Yang sat alone in the car for a moment. She checked the door behind them in the rear view. There was someone far across the parking garage. Cleaning staff, maybe. Yang’s fingers tightened on the wheel as the door kept sliding upwards. Ruby appeared in the passenger seat, swinging the door shut beside her. 

“We’re clear, go,” Ruby said, “Take a left, then a right. The traffic light will turn yellow, but you can get through it.” 

As she said this, she put the passenger seat back, and once she was comfortable, closed her eyes. 

Yang put her foot on the gas, and they left the garage. 

* * *

Medical personnel and forensics workers struggled to get by each other in the chaotic halls of the station. It was like a tornado had hit. Furniture was everywhere. Doors were blocked off, lighting knocked out. Fire extinguishers had seemingly leapt off walls and expended their payload of their own volition. A lot of the police in this station were ex-military, and the place reminded them of an urban combat zone. Only no warzone in history could see so many people violently neutralized, yet so few fatalities. 

The Chief of Police marched through the halls, taking in the absurd sights. 

“-Patterns of spray paint markings manifested all over the station,” The cop behind him was saying, “We think one of them was somehow using their Aberration to guide the other somewhere, but it also caused a lot of confusion for our guys.” 

“You follow the markings, because that’s where the Aberrants are going, and you shoot them when you get there,” The Chief said, an edge of irritation in his voice, “And where the hell is my coffee cup?” 

“Well, sir, they were pretty inconsistently placed,” The cop said, “It’s like she got lost a lot.” 

“Wonderful.” 

From the corner up ahead, a flabbergasted EMT rushed after James Ironwood. He came into view making a wearied effort to straighten his coat. As he approached the chief, he turned his head to the side, cracking his neck. 

“You’ve got dust on your uniform,” The Chief said. 

“Fuck yourself.” 

“Every goddam scrap of paperwork is going to include that you caused this breach, by firing your weapon.” 

“You want our legal teams to trade numbers?” Ironwood asked, “Or do you want to catch the two Aberrants who were in your goddam cage, ten minutes ago?” 

Ozpin motioned for Ironwood to follow him. The Chief of Police’s office had been largely unharmed by the breakout. The chief wouldn’t realize for some time that the flask in his upper right desk drawer was gone. The chief took his seat, idly flicking his computer’s power button. 

“Every cop in this city works for me, until those two are dead,” Ironwood said. 

“The time for bravado and bold statements is over, James,” Ozpin said, “Let us both acknowledge that these events threaten to grow beyond our control. We are in the same boat.” 

Ironwood gritted his teeth without parting his lips. 

“This situation is uncontained,” Ozpin said, “You let our guard down. What those two do will lead back to your failure. And my failure, for not stopping you.” 

“Unless?” 

“Unless we use all assets available to us.” 

The words hung in the air. Ironwood stretched. The kid’s fist had hurt worse than hitting the wall. 

“Okay,” Ironwood said, “I can make that work. At least, so that the collateral isn’t our goddam problem.” 

“I would count that sort of damage control among my priorities.” 

* * *

The car glided through the city streets, cool and anonymous. Yang kept her hands at ten and two, but kept her arms loose, just like he’d shown her. 

“Two hands,” Yang said, “Two hands, use ‘em both.” 

“Mmm?” 

Ruby had stirred from where she lay. Jesus, the kid had been trying hard tonight. Yang looked down at her sister. In her head, she was counting the cops she’d seen who were definitely dead. A flare of tail lights ahead and Yang put her focus back on the road. 

“I was- it was something Dad said,” Yang said. 

“Okay.” 

“We should be listening to the police scanner.” 

“Does the car have one?” 

“Not that I can see.” 

A cop car passing by at the intersection up ahead. 

“We’re going to have to ditch this car soon,” Yang said, “Could be a tracker, whatever. New car. Go through the glove compartment.” 

“Yeah.” 

“You. Now. The glove compartment.” 

“Yeah.” 

Ruby leaned forward, clicked open the compartment. She pulled out the 9mm and left it in the drink tray while rooting for change. 

“After that,” Yang said, slowing to a rolling stop at a pedestrian crossing, “How do you feel about west? I mean the coast, Ruby.” 

“Yeah.” 


	2. City of No Palms

Officer  Goodwitch kept her platinum blond hair pulled back, as tightly secured as her tactical gear. She was up against the cruiser, in heated discussion with the radio in her hand. Around her, cops were running everywhere, securing the scene, trying to take control of chaos. Down the street, a police cordon held off a wave of civvies with cameras. Leaked footage of Aberrant Crime Scenes did well online.

She was in the center of a gas station. Less than an hour after a tornado of bullshit tore through the police station and landed squarely in her lap. She’d been hoping for an easy latter half of the day since her first coffee break this morning. This place didn’t look like the police station; there was one dead blue, one destroyed vehicle. A destroyed pump, spewing gasoline everywhere. A fine carpet of broken glass that crunched underfoot.

“Really, okay, I understand,” She said into the radio, “Tell Hazmat ‘thank you’. Tell them we will ‘keep personnel away’ until they get here. Ask them if that should change if the gas ignites. Over and out.”

She stood up straight and looked around. A black Hummer, devoid of insignia, was trying to pull in. Goodwitch flipped the Hummer off, marching towards the driver’s side. The window rolled down.

“This whole fucking gas station is the crime scene,” Goodwitch said, “Back it the fuck up, back down the street.”

The driver seemed to look past her as he handed her a ream of paperwork. The top page bore the insignia of the police beneath the insignia of the Atlas Initiative.

“What is- what the fuck-?”

The back door of the Hummer opened, and Colonel James Ironwood stepped out. He immediately put a cigarette into his mouth.

“Officer.”

Glynda grabbed the cigarette from his mouth and stamped it, though the lighter hadn’t reached it yet. James didn’t seem to flinch at this.

“It’s a fucking gas leak that-” Goodwitch spat, “This whole mess is on you and your people.”

“Read the fine print, Glynda,” Ironwood said, “You are my people now. Welcome to the Atlas team. Fuck happened here?”

Glynda ran her tongue over her teeth, and then motioned for Ironwood to follow her. He obliged. They walked over to the destroyed vehicle. 

“This is the vehicle the suspects took from the police station,” Officer Goodwitch said, “Registered to somebody in Evidence.”

The entire front half of the vehicle was caved in from one side. Most of the hood was covered by blood. On the ground nearby was a service Glock 18, slide back, with the magazine on the ground to one side. Ironwood popped open the backseat door of the car and glanced in. He came back up with a 9mm Beretta. Keeping his finger off the trigger, he cleared the chamber and dropped the magazine.

“Forensics would probably have liked to dust that,” Goodwitch said.

“This doesn’t look like a usual collision,” Ironwood said.

“No, it doesn’t.”

* * *

The gas station was any greasy, failing business in any greasy, failing town you could picture. The car that rolled up in the parking lot was the only thing moving on these few blocks. Though a searchlight from a helicopter or drone occasionally swept across the concrete below, nothing about the car drew the watching eye. The car came to a stop at the pumps, the fluorescent lighting inside the shop drifting lazily out the picture windows. The sight of a display case of plastic-wrapped cakes made Yang realize how long it had been since her sister or herself had eaten.

Ruby sat up, returning the seat to its proper place as she did. She undid her seatbelt.

“Ruby, the gun,” Yang said, “The gun is still-”

Ruby grabbed the pistol in the drink tray and tossed it into the darkness near the floor of the backseat.

“Check the chamber-” Yang managed to get out before the gun disappeared. Ruby jumped back in fright.

Yang sat back in the driver’s seat. She took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry,” Ruby said.

“Just be careful, kiddo,” Yang said, “I... I worry about you a lot.”

“I know.”

“We walk in there, we’re just customers,” Yang said.

“I’m wearing an orange jumpsuit, and a hoodie over it that smells like weed and gunpowder.”

“This is a Circle K. They’ve seen weirder tonight.”

Ruby giggled, and seemed to accept that answer, and she left the car. The two of them walked up to the glass door with the neon ‘Open’ sign. Ruby rooted about in her pockets.

“What’ve you got there?” Yang asked.

“I stole it from the Chief’s desk,” Ruby said, “Remind you of anyone?”

She pulled from the worn hoodie pocket a small metal container, oblong and flat, like a hand-sized bible. There was supposed to be a metal cap at the top, but it was missing. The emblem of the police force was etched into the metal on one side. There was a faint, familiar scent coming from the flask.

“Oh, look at that,” Yang said, “Is there anything inside?”

“No, it was empty.”

“Weird.”

They went into the shop. Ruby went for the candy bars immediately. The clerk looked up from his phone, barely-controlled acne completing his mane of greasy, unkempt hair. He gave the girl in the jumpsuit an odd look. Yang leaned in far over the counter in front of him, putting her eyeline just beneath his.

“Hey there,” She said.

She checked him over for a nametag but made a show of looking him up and down. Apparently, names weren’t part of the uniform.

“Evening,” The boy said, the levelness in his voice a backbreaking effort.

“You want to buy a car?” Yang asked him.

“Is there a bathroom?” Ruby interjected.

The boy glanced away from Yang. Yang gritted her teeth just slightly.

“Uh, yeah,” The kid said, “It’s dumb, but, the bathroom’s outside. Here, I’ll give you the key.”

The kid held out a large, unwieldy piece of plastic, with a small key dangling from one end. Ruby took it.

“Outside and to your right.”

Ruby looked between the clerk and Yang. Yang was giving her an uncomfortable grin. The clerk was looking at her with concern. She took the key and walked back out the door she came. Yang turned back to the kid, who now eyed her with uncertainty.

“Are... you two in some sort of trouble?” He asked.

“Do you think you could help us?” Yang asked him.

* * *

Ironwood glanced across the parking lot, and spotted the young boy still wrapped in a blanket in the back of an ambulance. He was holding the broken remnants of a smartphone and talking animatedly to an EMT, who was reassuring him he was fine.

“That the witness?” Ironwood asked.

“He didn’t see shit, he’s worthless,”  Goodwitch said, “And he’s not Aberrant, so your actions wouldn’t be covered by the Justice Act.”

“Look at that fucking kid,” Ironwood said, “Go through his pockets and bust him for meth.”

“By all means,” Goodwitch said, sipping from a paper coffee cup, “Don’t let me stop you from proving your manhood to a 17-year-old boy with piss in his pants.”

* * *

The bathroom door opened outward, and the world became silver. Ruby slipped inside the bathroom, a water droplet from the faucet hanging in mid-air.

“Not trying to step on your fucking toes, I’m sorry,” She said.

The world went normal again. The water droplet hit a stained, ugly drain that hadn’t been cleaned, maybe ever. The bathroom door swung shut. As soon as the latch clicked, the world went silver. Ruby moved to sit down on the toilet, then thought better of it. She leaned up against the old plastic divider mounted next to the only toilet in the room.

“You’re going to mess with the guy, and we rob him or whatever,” Ruby said, “And I threw you off. Sorry.”

Colour returned. Ruby stepped forward and turned the knob on the sink. Water flowed. She looked at the dilapidated soap dispenser and wondered if there was even a point in checking. She wetted her hands, dried them on her jumpsuit pants, and the world went silver. Ruby pulled a candy bar from her pocket and began unwrapping it.

“I can do this, just lemme-”

She bit into the bar of cheap, processed chocolate and preservative-filled cookie. She whimpered in joy.

* * *

“I could... get maybe a couple hundred out of the ATM,” The clerk said, “I could afford it. At least, give you some place to sleep tonight.”

“It’s asking so much,” Yang said.

“It’s the least I can do,” The boy said, “Fucking  Aberrants running around at night and shit. You have to stay safe.”

A cop car rolled down the road, across from the pumps. The clerk caught Yang’s sideways glance, and took a decidedly less-subtle gawk in that direction. He saw the cop car and looked away.

“Where... where are you going to stay?” The clerk asked.

The cop car turned around.

* * *

Ironwood leaned into the driver’s side window of the cruiser. The cruiser had been parked at the edge of the gas station, far enough away to avoid the impact the other car had suffered. The inside had most of the console electronics ripped out.

“Officer exited the vehicle,” Goodwitch said, “I would imagine to examine the suspicious vehicle at the pumps.”

“Didn’t have his gun out from the start.”

* * *

Colour returned to the world. A candy bar wrapper never flew the way you expected it to, once air resistance kicked in. Ruby walked over to the wastebasket, which was supposed to have a plastic bag between the can and the filth inside. There was liquid at the bottom of the can. Ruby dropped the candy bar wrapper and watched it drift lazily down into the receptacle. She walked over to the bathroom door and shoved it open with her foot.

The cacophonous echoing of a pane of glass exploding shook through the bathroom, striking Ruby in the face as she moved to exit. Ruby almost jumped out of her skin, the world silver again before she’d taken another breath.

“Fuck!” She spat.

Ruby took a moment to take a deep breath. She’d been surprised, but she’d been fucking lucky to get the door open. It was holding in place at a shallow angle, offering just enough space to escape. Ruby squirmed out, and headed back in the direction of the pumps.

“Yeah, I distracted you and messed up your plan,” Ruby called out, “But I didn’t think I messed it up that... bad.”

The front window of the shop was exploded outwards- a cone of suspended glass shards that stretched into the parking lot. They glimmered in the neon lights of the sign above them. Ruby followed the curving trail of flying debris to its point; a few meters ahead of the glass, creeping forward almost as fast as one of the bullets in the station, was a hand-held fire extinguisher. The rubber hose was tearing itself away from the metal capsule as it moved through the air.

“Okay.” Ruby said.

She followed the path of the improvised projectile. Behind the gas pumps, in fact standing between the pumps and Yang’s new car, was a police officer, drawing his gun. The fire extinguisher was on target. Ruby sighed in annoyance, then walked over to the doomed man.

“Evening, officer.”

Ruby stood next to him and looked in at the gas station. With the silvery shimmer over everything, it was almost hard to make out Yang, entire body thrown into a baseball pitch. The boy behind the counter wasn’t so much diving for cover as crumbling for it. Ruby looked at the gun in the cop’s hand.

“That’s like a... boxy one,” She said, “A Glock. Can I see the mode-switch thing?”

She leaned in for a closer look at the side. This goddam shimmer even made the engraved lettering hard to read.

“Full-auto. Uh huh, great,” Ruby said, “Okay, grab here, and...”

She took hold of the rectangular upper edge of the weapon. The cop had slid his finger into the trigger guard before even lifting the gun from the holster. She pulled, and saw the slide start to move steadily back, the only thing slowing it being Ruby’s perception. She looked over the weapon again. She saw a tiny lever that Yang had explained to her was like a release latch. She pushed it, and heard a soft mechanical thump inside the pistol. She stood back up; if gravity was taking hold of the magazine, or clip, or whatever, it’d be a few minutes before that was perceivable.

“So that totally works, I guess, and I could have done that.”

Ruby looked back at Yang. There was some kind of glow in the air in front of her. Ruby would have to take a look at that before starting everything up again. She sat down on the hood of the stolen car. They hadn’t been planning to come back to it, and it didn’t look like they’d be able to, in a few seconds of the real world.

“So, I was right and Yang was wrong,” Ruby said, “And I could have disarmed the cop and he could have lived. I mean, you... if I touch that fire extinguisher wrong, I’ll pretty much just explode. So... sorry. She did that to protect me. But the other guy, though. We could have just run away from him. I didn’t need to do what I did.”

Ruby hopped off the hood of the car, and walked over to the shop. She thought about crawling through the broken window, then imagined the amount of glass shards, too small to see, that must be suspended in the air before her. She reached out to the door, and applied just a small push on the bar across the front. She pocketed her hands, and looked in. That glow in front of Yang; it was heated air, all along the contours of the front of her body. Beneath her right arm, outstretched and sweeping downwards from the throw, the air was the hottest. It was a dense, red-hot cloud spilling around her arm.

“Goddam, Yang,” Ruby said, “Not even air resistance slows you down, huh?”

The world became colour. The door in front of her flew open, and there was a wet crunch behind. She caught Yang’s glance and smiled. The kid behind the counter was scrambling for his cellphone. The world became silver. She strode inside.

Yang caught a glimpse of Ruby in the doorway while her throw met its target. The security cameras in every corner shattered, and the clerk yelped in fright. Yang ducked into the aisle behind her, out of view of the street. She moved one of the energy drink cans on the shelf, creating a peephole.

“Hey.”

Ruby was beside her. Yang smiled. Ruby held up a small device, something like a wi-fi antenna, with wires hanging out the back of it.

“He doesn’t have back-up coming,” She said, “But we have a police scanner now.”

“Alright then, grab some food, and let’s get the fuck out of here,” Yang said.

“Right,” Ruby said, “Uh, food.”

Yang looked down at the front of Ruby’s hoodie. There was an empty wrapper poking out of her pocket. Tiny crumbs and flecks of chocolate.

“Ruby, how many candy bars have you eaten?”

* * *

“They stole food, and got out.” 

Goodwitch and Ironwood stood in the middle of the shop. There was considerably less damage in here, despite the strewn bags of chips and candy.

“Security feeds?”

“All taken out, along with any on-site storage,” Goodwitch confirmed, “I imagine they took a few useful gadgets from that cruiser, too.”

“They’re just two fucking kids.”

“And you made sure they knew there was nobody they could rely on but each other.”

Ironwood lit up another cigarette. He leaned against the counter.

“Paperwork is going to say one of the dead uniforms in the interrogation room pulled the trigger,” He said, “Stay consistent.”

“Fuck was your plan, by the way?” Goodwitch asked, “I’ve seen the footage- yes, there’s footage, and yes, I’ve seen it. You were expecting to hit what you aimed at, but you’ve made that mistake before, haven’t you?”

Ironwood took a drag. He walked around the counter to the shelves of cigarettes.

“I made the right call,” He said, “up until the little bitch slipped out. I looked her in the eye; the younger one. We were never going to control her.”

“I’m sure you have the training in psychology to recognize that,” Goodwitch said.

“But the sister,” Ironwood said, “The sister is fake bravado and swearing, so you don’t see she’s scared. That can be broken. I tried to break it. Things got out of hand.”

“I see,” Goodwitch said, “You’d have looked smart if you didn’t look so goddam stupid right now.”

“If Ozpin is being honest with me, for once in either of our fucking lives,” Ironwood said, “Then, it won’t matter for long.”

* * *

The door to Ozpin’s office opened. He stepped in, a pile of folders and documents under one arm. His cellphone was in his other hand, held to his ear. He shoved the door behind him shut and dumped the paper on the desk.

“A negligent discharge,” Ozpin said, “Yes. Hold on, I’ll put you on speaker, but we’re clear.”

He hit the ‘Speaker’ button and dropped the phone on the desk. He sat down and began sorting the papers.

“Ironwood?” The voice asked.

“Officially, no,” Ozpin said, “Just wait for the report.”

He found the preliminary on damages accumulated just that night. He stared at the numbers on the sheet.

“We’re ready to go,” The garbled voice said, “Both of ’em.”

“Yeah, hold on,” Ozpin said, “Let me get out the files.”

He switched off speaker, and grabbed the phone. The personnel files were in the lower right drawer, hidden beneath some decidedly less exciting budget reports. He’d get to both when he was good and ready. He opened the upper right drawer first, and rooted through it as he talked.

“I want to express that Ironwood hasn’t fucked us completely,” Ozpin said, “Not yet. Both suspects still have potential, if they can be reacquired. Where the fuck- I want both assets to... employ nonlethal...”

Ozpin lifted the old handbook out of the drawer completely, as if it might be somehow obscuring his quarry. He tossed the book aside, shaking his head.

“Troubles?”

“I’ll call you back,” Ozpin said.

He ended the call. He stared into the empty drawer for a moment. God, he needed a drink. His eyes widened. He slammed the drawer shut and threw open the one beneath it. The budget reports scattered across the floor. The two Aberrant Subject Files he’d very deliberately placed were gone. It had been a risk to acquire those documents from the Atlas Initiative, and a fucking trick to do it discretely, and now they were gone.

“Fuck.”

* * *

Yang sat with an elbow on the table, her forehead held in her hand. Her new shirt still had a tag hanging from one side that she hadn’t noticed. Ruby was wearing pre-faded, pre-ripped jeans, some band shirt, and her hoodie over it. There were empty paper wrappers strewn on the table in front of them. Ruby was animatedly chewing a bite of her burger. The other customers in the joint all had their heads down, minding their own business.

“It’s protein,” Yang said, “It’s good for you.”

“Chocolate’s just sugars, I remember,” Ruby said.

Yang grabbed her drink and produced a whistling noise through the straw, pulling nothing but air through the ice at the bottom. She set the cup down.

“You look tired,” Ruby said.

“I am, kiddo,” Yang said, “I am.”

“Where are we sleeping?”

“Don’t know.”


	3. Open Up The Door

The car pulled up the nonsensically inclined driveway. Small trees lined the street, built into a hill so that you were always going either uphill or downhill, but never in a consistent direction. It was a charming, middle-class sort of neighbourhood, and those were hard to stay discrete in. People around here were nosey little cunts; they watched from the impenetrable security of their living room windows while you took out the trash, or went for a morning walk, or tried raising two kids. 

The door opened, and Raven stepped out of the driver’s seat. She wore a softly-coloured shawl around her shoulders and a bandana wrapped about her long black hair. She opened the back door and fished out the bag of emergency purchases; dish soap, diapers, the only cookies Yang would eat, and the cheapest 10-ounce bottle the drunk in the basement would stoop to. 

“Raven Branwen! I thought that was you!” 

Raven held in bad language as she turned to the neighbour’s driveway. Her neighbour was over a row of hedges that were better trimmed on the opposite side. 

“Hello,” Raven said. 

_Fuck, what’s her name?_ She thought. 

“Supply run, huh?” The neighbour said, “The little one must be getting so big.” 

“Yeah.” 

_She’s expecting more._

“We, uh, we’re getting her into potty training soon, but the kid doesn’t want to sit still.” 

“Oh, they never do, dear, they never do. The Marigolds down the street just heard from their folks out of town, did you hear?” 

“Did I hear that the Marigolds live down the street, or did I hear that they have folks out of town?” 

The neighbour looked at her oddly. 

“Anyway,” She said, “Their folks live in Sweetgrass, Montana. Now there’s another family in Sweetgrass with the name Marigold; You remember them saying that at the barbeque?” 

“...yes.” 

“The kids had to stay home from school, because there was an Aberrant there.” 

Raven clicked her tongue. She made a show of puzzling over this. Then she realized she had no actual idea what the point of the story was. 

“At the school in Sweetgrass?” 

“Yes,” The neighbour nodded, “Was a student for months, before they caught it.” 

“And the Marigolds...?” 

“Oh, well that’s what everybody’s been talking about. Because the Aberrant was named Marigold. And the whole neighbourhood thought that the Marigolds were related to that awful thing, even though they’re not related at all.” 

“I see,” Raven said. 

“It was just a lot of worry for nothing.” 

_I’m going to figure this woman’s name out by the end of this conversation,_ Raven thought. 

Inside, Taiyang Xiao Long was seated at the kitchen table. He drummed his fingers on the tabletop, sending minute vibrations through the kernals of breakfast cereal. He’d been dutifully waiting since he’d heard the car. On the table beside him was a small camcorder. 

Finally, the door opened. Raven walked in, closing the door behind her with her foot. She kicked the shoe off without lowering the foot back down to the floor. 

“You just came in,” Taiyang said, “But you pulled in seven minutes ago. So... how are Judy’s niece and nephew?” 

“Judy?” Raven asked, looking back over her shoulder, “Shit, I wasn’t even close. Anyway, the niece is learning piano. The nephew sometimes pretends he has superpowers on the playground, but people know he’s from a good family.” 

“That’s good,” Taiyang said. 

The absurdity of the damage to the drywall hung in the air. The partition between the kitchen and the living room was barely holding together. Raven stared her husband straight in the face and waited for an explanation. The wall looked like somebody had gone at it with a hammer for an hour. The drywall debris was strewn across the linoleum in this room, and the carpet and coffee table in the room next. 

“I see you got the diapers,” Tai said, “Did they honour the coupon?” 

“Where are the children, dear?” 

“Ruby’s asleep,” Tai said, “Previously-final diaper firmly in place. Yang is showering drywall out of her hair.” 

“And why is she doing that?” 

“Glad you asked,” Tai said, before motioning towards the camcorder. 

Raven shook her head in disbelief, and picked the device up. You didn’t see these much anymore, most phones were coming with cameras attached these days. She turned the boxy gadget around in her hands and unfolded the little screen. The video didn’t start as soon as she powered the camcorder on; she had to click the screen, too. 

The view was of the camera’s holder, running down the hallway. A crash from the living room ahead that the camcorder’s speakers did no justice. The camera entered the living room, accompanied by Tai’s quick, excited breaths. The state of the living room in the video was like a preview of the mess it was now. The camera was, by luck, facing the right direction when the tiny, pajama-clad 8-year-old smashed through the wall like a locomotive, her hair flying about wildly. Raven’s breath caught in her throat. 

“Holy-” Tai laughed in the video, “Yang, that was- that was incredible! What you just did was incredible, sweetheart!” 

The little girl was positively beaming as she danced in front of the hole in the wall. The camera briefly glanced over towards Qrow on the couch. He was drunk-laughing, but his cradle of the giggling baby in his arms was perfect. 

“You’re not hurt at all?” Tai asked. 

“Nope,” Yang said, “Uncle Qrow, did Ruby see what I did?” 

“Heh, I’m not sure, kiddo,” Qrow said, all but cackling, “Maybe she didn’t think you were going fast enough.” 

“Oh, you want me to go faster?” 

“No, no,” Tai insisted, the camera view drooping as he rushed to place his hands on his daughter’s shoulders, “You’ve done great, kid, but let’s-” 

For a moment, the view was nothing but whipping, blurry, glimpses of corners and floorboards. Then, it stabilized, and Tai was holding the camera at arm’s length, pointed back on himself. Yang had her head rested on his shoulder, but she was jittery with excitement. 

“There we go,” Tai said, “Alright, great, now-” 

“It's all in my hair!” 

“Yeah, don’t worry about that, listen,” Tai said, “We’re making a video for Mommy, for when she gets home.” 

“Okay,” She said, “Hi Mommy. I love you, Mommy.” 

Even through the camera, even through the smile, Raven could see how scared Tai was. 

“Hi baby, we both love you.” He said, “Now, me and our special little girl here are going to have a talk, and after that we’re going to wait for you to get home.” 

“What are we talking about?” Yang asked. 

The video ended. Raven wiped her eyes. She sat down at the kitchen table. 

* * *

Yang sat on the bench, hair tied back, staring into the phone in her hand. The broken remnant of an old bus stop was nearby. Yang highly doubted the bus still came to this part of town. The street lamp overhead was consistent enough. The bench had a few arm rests; a more recent addition. Not-quite-as-rusty steel had been bolted to the wood to partition the bench, making laying across it impossible. Yang idly tapped at the phone’s screen. It was actually just a display model for a cell phone case from the gas station, so it was mostly for show. Yang didn’t know who was watching; and out here, that didn’t just mean the drones overhead. 

Ruby appeared in front of her, her hood up, hands in her pockets. 

“Both doors look intact. No broken windows. No furniture inside.” 

“Door’s locked?” 

“Didn’t check.” 

“Because?” 

“Because I was using my Ability the whole time I was near that place without you,” Ruby said. 

“Good.” 

Yang stood, and threw the phone case into a long-abandoned trash can. They walked across the street and approached the house. The neighbourhood had been built according to some city-districting plan to put another residential area near the industrial part of town. The houses were nearing completion around the time the market shifted and the biggest factory in town was mothballed. Since then, they’d sat here, unused; technically city property, but technically an investment by Schnee Corp. 

Yang crept up to the front door. There was no awning to speak of, leaving them without the comfort of shadow. Ruby seemed to blink in place, double-checking the windows. 

“Pretty sure we’re alone,” She whispered. 

Yang checked the knob. The door was locked. She wondered if an empty house would have one of those fake rocks with a key in them. She placed her hand next to the knob. 

“Ready?” She asked. 

Ruby nodded. Yang pushed, and the wood splintered apart, echoing through the house. The latch popped off and flew inside. The door swung lazily open after it. Ruby seemed to blink in place. The latch hit the floor. 

“Nobody,” Ruby said, “And no security systems. But somebody’s been here. Mattress upstairs has a dirty blanket on it. There’s garbage in the kitchen sink.” 

Yang nodded. She stepped in, and they moved towards the kitchen together. 

“You’d move quieter without those boots,” Ruby whispered. 

“Probably would,” Yang replied. 

They entered the kitchen. The counters and the sink were there, but there weren’t any appliances. Yang walked over and looked into the sink. 

“That looks pretty old,” Yang said, “Not weeks... days, maybe. I don’t know. I want a look at that mattress.” 

“What is it?” 

“What?” 

“In the sink.” 

Yang looked again. A lopsided plastic package, the remainder of its cargo dried in a trail to the drain. The front of it faced upwards, and a saccharine cartoon character waved to Yang. The lettering was stylized to look like balloons or something. 

“It’s ice cream,” Yang said, “And before you ask, it’s empty. Let’s get upstairs. You check the closets?” 

“They were all open,” Ruby said. 

They moved upstairs. Yang looked at the mattress. She decided it didn’t look like anybody planned to return to it. Nonetheless, they would sleep in a different room. 

* * *

The blinds on the windows of Chief Ozpin’s office were drawn shut. The laptop screen was angled away from the door. The video file displayed the last frame, and a replay symbol. Ozpin clicked it. He watched Ironwood fire; he watched him look over his shoulder; he watched him fly out of frame, leaving only the girl. The video ended. 

“Hmm.” 

Goodwitch stood with her arms crossed, her almost librarian-like glasses halfway down her nose bridge. 

“Is that what you’re going to say?” She asked, “’Hmm’? We didn’t know that, did we?” 

“We knew he was Post Human,” Ozpin said, “Not that he could survive that.” 

“I have a question, Chief,” Goodwitch said, “I’m going to be conjecting a few things, though. I’m assuming you had a back-up plan involving this guy that this kind of fucks with, would I be right?” 

“I didn’t know his Ability, Glynda,” Ozpin said, “That would be a prerequisite to the plan you’re talking about.” 

“What do we do?” Goodwitch said, “I say arrange a friendly fire incident to see if he’s bulletproof.” 

“Glynda,” Ozpin said, “I know how to deal with James.” 

“Then stop him from shitting in my plate.” 

“You’re smarter than him,” Ozpin said, “I trust you to manage until the situation with James abruptly changes.” 

“And the assets?” 

Ozpin had taken a mug from the break room. He sipped his coffee. 

“Officially, we haven’t been told their names,” Ozpin said, “But they were both detained, questioned, and offered a deal in this very building. Unless you think James will buy that we think the Initiative has any more successful candidates, you can probably just act like it’s a given it’ll be them.” 

“Are they ready?” Goodwitch asked. 

“They’ve spent the last few months in a facility that doesn’t exist on any maps,” Ozpin said, “So you and I will find out at roughly the same time.” 

“And if they’re not?” 

“Then Xiao Long kills them,” Ozpin said, “And I don’t know how you expect me to stop that.” 

He rummaged through his desk, this time finding what he searched for. He placed the stack of post-its on the desk and began writing. He ripped off the sheet and handed it to Goodwitch. She started committing the address and time to memory. 

“What’ll be there?” She asked. 

“A back-up plan.” 

* * *

Yang lay on the cheap carpet, a bundle of stolen clothes as a pillow. She looked at the closed bedroom door. Ruby was behind her, closer to the open window. Yang’s eyes were heavy. 

“If we hear anyone downstairs?” She whispered. 

“Go out the window without hurting myself,” Ruby said, “You’ll jump it if they come upstairs.” 

“If somebody comes in the room?” 

Don’t let them touch me,” Ruby said, “If they have a weapon, I disarm them. You do the rest.” 

“Right.” 

There was a moment of silence. A siren echoed from somewhere out in the city. 

“Ruby?” Yang asked. 

“Yeah.” 

“Do you want to talk about today?” 

Ruby was quiet. Yang felt the shift in air as Ruby abruptly changed position. Yang glanced over her shoulder. Ruby lay with her back to Yang. Faster than Yang could blink, her arms went from laying in front of her to one on her side, the other tucked under her arm. 

“Ruby, talk to me,” Yang said. 

In a blink, Ruby was rolled over, facing Yang. Yang jumped slightly. 

“About what?” She asked. 

“We had to hurt people again,” Yang said, “And it upsets you.” 

“We have to keep each other safe.” 

“How many people did you... hurt in the police station?” Yang asked. 

“Jesus Christ, Yang,” Ruby said, “I- I-” 

“Don’t you do it,” Yang said, “I can’t hear you if I’m frozen, Ruby. Come on.” 

Ruby took a moment. 

“You... talk to me... like I’m a little kid,” Ruby said. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Do we hurt people, Yang? Is that what we do?” Ruby asked, “I broke about ten different cops’ legs, and arms, and a few people took it in the nuts because that’s what Uncle Qrow taught me. Those are the ones I hurt. There were other cops who were in my way who aren’t going to be okay later. So, what do we do, Yang?” 

“Ruby, I killed two people tonight,” Yang said, “That man who fired a gun at you, and a guy who was going to fire a gun at me. Both of them; dead. And you’re alive, and I can live with that.” 

“They’re people just like us.” 

“Ruby, if either of those men had killed you, or killed me, they wouldn’t shed a tear for us,” Yang said, “So don’t do them any favours.” 

“Okay,” Ruby said, “Okay, but I tried the thing with the handgun at the gas-” 

Ruby seemed to flicker, and was suddenly seated with her legs curled. 

“-two more near the staircase, and I-” 

Another flicker. 

“Which is what Dad told us-” 

Yang rubbed her eyes. Ruby seemed to cross the room on the next one. 

“-all the way across the country-” 

“Ruby, I’m going to try to get some sleep,” Yang said, laying back down, “You should too.” 

* * *

Goodwitch had the driver’s seat as far back as it would go. A personal vehicle offered comforts other than discretion. There she was, just any woman, having a nap at 2 am in her car, in the parking lot of a Tim Hortons that was struggling to stay open on the American side. Goodwitch had tried their coffee and understood why it wasn’t working. Christ, she was tired. 

A mild shift in the weight of the car. Goodwitch opened her eyes and saw the small frame leaning against the side of the car. The figure was feminine, the view above the shoulders obscured by the roof from where Goodwitch lounged. A single knuckle tapped on the window, and Goodwitch hit the button. The glass pane slid down with a dull whir. 

“Think I’m contractually obligated to open with ‘Fuck you, pig.’” 

“How old are you?” 

“Did your guy give you the password?” The speaker was talking around a cigarette. 

“If that’s whatever the fuck ‘Trans rights-” 

A USB drive landed in Goodwitch’s lap. 

“Made you say trans rights.” 

The courier pushed off the car and was gone. 

““6-1 in the projects. I repeat, 6-1 in the projects,” The radio oh-so-cleverly hidden in the console called out, “Aberrant-on-Aberrant.” 

* * *

Yang’s eyelids drifted. She lifted them and let in a piercing fraction of the light. There was a shape over her, thin and shaking like a nervous animal. 

“Ruby-” 

The tiny little shape moved forward. Yang felt the edge of the knife press against the skin of her throat and stop precisely there. The small creature perched over her was staring down at her, terrified. Her one hand balanced on the knife, pressed to Yang’s carotid. She raised a single finger to her lips. 

Yang looked to one side, with nothing but her eyes. Ruby was curled up, asleep. Yang took a careful inhale, feeling that blade tip press against her skin. She looked back at the small girl over her. Mismatched eyes were trembling in fright. 

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Yang said. 

The girl shushed her again. She made several precise hands movements in the air. The tip of the knife twitched slightly. She looked down at Yang with expectation. Yang took another deep inhale. The girl rolled her eyes and repeated the hand movements. 

“I don’t understand,” Yang said, “I’m sorry.” 

_Jesus, she’s just,_ Yang thought, _must be younger than Ruby._

The girl seemed to growl in frustration, though she produced no sound. Any second now, she’d slip up; she’d move the knife a centimeter too far to the side, and then Yang would send her to the attic. She lowered her free hand to the knife, and was suddenly holding the knife with both hands. Yang reacted a fraction of a second before realizing the girl was transferring the knife between her hands. Her palms hit the girl in the shoulder and chest. The tiny body went flying backwards, her head on course to meet the wall first. 

With a flash of brilliantly colourful refracting light, the girl vanished into thin air. She did not herself produce any sound when she disappeared, but the air rushed in to fill the void she left with a small _pop._ She hadn’t hit the wall; she hadn’t broken her neck. For a half-second, Yang started to sigh in relief. Then, the breath caught in her throat. 

“Oh fuck.” 

Yang pulled herself up. 

“Ruby, wake up!” Yang shouted, “Ruby, wake the fuck up, she’s a Post Human!” 

Ruby groaned in complaint for a moment, then, she processed what Yang had shouted. The world turned silver. Ruby got to her feet and looked about the room. There was Yang, she was okay. Any bullets in the air? No. Any weapons? Ruby did a small double-take. There was a point of light floating in the air behind Yang. Yang had her fists up in a panicked defensive stance, but the anomaly was completely in her blind spot. The light was a growing, refracting white, green, and pink. Before Ruby’s very eyes, the light grew and grew until a humanoid shape began to emerge. 

Ruby stepped forward. The shape was of a girl who must have been older than her by a year or two. As her body took its place, where she had used her Ability to put it, she glowed with ever shifting splashes of green and pink. Her skin shimmered, and her arrival in the spot was complete. 

“That’s incredible,” Ruby said, smiling, “That’s really amazing.” 

The little girl had a knife in her hand. She was looking at Yang like she was scared, even though Yang’s back was to her. Ruby walked over to her and looked at the knife. A small blade that looked like it had been grabbed from a knife block at random. She wasn’t gripping it very tightly. Ruby held out one finger and pushed on the end of the hilt, giving it a few seconds to add enough energy. She took a step back to mind her own toes. Then, she started everything up again. 

The knife shot out of the girl’s hand and stuck into the floor. She jumped back in fright. Yang heard the knife landing, and turned around. She saw the girl and rushed her. In a blink of light, the girl vanished. 

“God damn it!” Yang shouted, skidding to a halt. 

Yang looked about, trying to figure out what the smartest next move was. She took position next to the door out into the hall. Ruby appeared beside her in the blink of an eye, pressing her back against the wall. 

“-like this. Right?” 

“What?” Yang asked. 

“She’s a teleporter, but she can’t attack either of us from the front. Just put your back to the wall.” 

Yang thought for a moment, then obliged. She scanned the room and confirmed that, for just a moment, and just in this room, it was just them. 

“Good thinking.” 

“Thank you.” 

“Do you know where in the house she is?” 

“No, the door’s closed.” 

“Right.” 

Yang turned, and kicked. The latch and hinges both snapped off and the door fell against the opposing wall of the hallway. 

“As long as it’s already a B & E,” Ruby said. 

Ruby disappeared. Yang heard every door in the house clatter open at once. In a flash of light, Ruby was suddenly back in the middle of the room. She had the other girl in a headlock. 

“Ruby!” Yang shouted. 

Ruby was clearly as alarmed by this development as Yang. With a flash of light, the Post Human girl suddenly stood next to Yang. Ruby fell forward empty-handed. The next flash illuminated Yang’s entire field of vision with dazzling, disorienting colour. 

* * *

Yang crept out of her bedroom, clean t-shirt and khakis in place. She’d heard her mother pull in, and she was probably talking with the neighbour. She didn’t know why her mother bothered talking to that woman, but it bought Yang some time. She snuck over to the top of the staircase, hoping to listen in to a snippet of conversation before joining. She froze in her tracks when he heard the sniffle. A sniffle Yang had heard before and was deeply frightening to her. She’d heard it when they had gotten the call about Summer. Yang put a hand over her mouth. 

“I was thinking... New Mexico,” Dad was saying, “Lot of open space. Nothing to damage but rocks.” 

“And when somebody sees her-” 

“Ray, it’s New Mexico. There are more cacti than people.” 

“And when somebody looks at a bunch of rocks, and fucking cactuses, that are destroyed because a little girl was throwing them around?” Raven asked, “You realize they investigate every single incident they think is Aberrant, right? You’re asking me to let our daughter break a bunch of rocks, and then someday, pictures of those broken rocks are part of a file somewhere, entitled ‘Unknown Aberrant Case Number whatever.’ No matter where that girl lives, people are going to be working on finding her, capturing her, or killing her. Does- this wall- does this look like one of the ones they capture?” 

* * *

The flash ended. Yang was in the living room. The Post Human girl was next to her. Yang reached out, but the girl disappeared in a flash. Yang shook her head. 

“Ruby?” She called out. 

Ruby appeared next to her. They both huddled near the wall. 

“I do the rest, Ruby,” Yang said, “You disarm, I do the rest.” 

“I’m trying.” 

“You tried to choke out a teleporter, Ruby,” Yang said, “if she picks up a weapon again, you’re up. Until then-” 

“Fine, fine,” Ruby said, “Doors are less of a problem for her, so if you want to open any door you see or punch a hole in a wall-” 

Yang stood and walked through the wall she’d been crouched against. Ruby heard the destruction continuing from the other side of the hole. 

“Okay.” 

She turned to see that the Post Human girl had been staring at them from a corner that Ruby hadn’t been paying attention to. 

“Jesus!” 

The girl stood up, nervously wielding what looked like a walking cane. Ruby blinked a little closer to the girl, and the cane was yanked from her hands as if by invisible force. The girl cried out and reached for the cane desperately. The cane’s arc across the room was stopped dead by Ruby blinking into its path, her hands wrapped around it. She stumbled back. The other girl kept her hands outstretched for the cane. 

“Hey, hey,” Ruby said, “Hey, is this cane important to you?” 

The girl looked at her oddly, then nodded. 

“Okay, I won’t damage it.” 

Yang walked back in through the hole in the wall. She saw the Post Human girl and almost took a step forward. She held her position, her eyes darting between Ruby and the other girl. 

“Yang, don’t-” 

The girl teleported onto Yang’s back, one arm awkwardly wrapped around Yang’s neck. Yang reached up to grab the tiny arm. Ruby appeared in front of her, her own limb stuck between the girl’s arm and Yang’s neck. The cane simply dropped to the ground where it had been left. 

“Don’t break her arm!” Ruby said. 

“She’s got me in a hold, Ruby,” Yang grunted in response. 

“No, she doesn’t. I had her in a hold. Her form is bad.” 

The little girl gave Ruby the finger. 

“Yeah, I’m breaking her arm, Rube.” 

“Don’t! We frightened her when we broke in.” 

“She frightened me with a knife to the neck.” 

Yang pulled on the girl’s wrist, gentle as she could. Able to take a clear breath, Yang shifted to one side, thrusting the girl into the wall. Her head bounced off drywall but nothing underneath. The girl fell to the floor in a daze. Yang placed her hands on either side of the girl’s head and held tight. 

“If I see any funny lights, I squeeze. Do you understand?” 

The girl held up her hands, palms out. She was squeezing her eyes shut, shaking like a leaf. 

“Yang,” Ruby said, a stammer in her voice, “Stay calm.” 

“I’m calm, Ruby,” Yang said, “I’m completely-” 

There was a man standing behind Ruby, one arm locked around her, a pistol pressed to her head. Yang’s arms trembled. 

“This is our place,” He said, “Our place.” 

Yang took a deep inhale. She remembered Qrow showing her. Long, slow inhale. 

“We needed somewhere to sleep,” Yang said, “We didn’t want trouble.” 

“You’re hurtin’ the little one.” 

“I haven’t hurt her yet.” 

“This one’s teleportin’ too, but it’s different, right?” The man said, “She just movin’ real fast. Can’t get out of this grip, can you, though?” 

“Yang, we can just talk to them,” Ruby said, “They don’t want to hurt us.” 

“Okay then,” Yang said, “I’ll talk to him. Guy. You’re going to put the gun on the floor. You’re the only one who’s armed. Can we get a level playing field?” 

“Kid, show me some goddam respect. This gun’s the only thing keep you from melting me with your brain or some fuckery.” 

“Buddy, if anything at all happens to my sister, this girl will die immediately, and then you’ll die a lot slower.” 

“Yang!” 

“You let the little one go,” The man said, “Me and her just go. I got some stuff stashed here I want to grab, but-” 

“Okay, hold on,” Yang said, “I want you to put the gun down.” 

Ruby didn’t blink in place, but seemed to blur for an instant. She did it several more times, her face reflecting various stages of annoyance. 

“the fuck?” The man asked, “Tell her to stop or I’ll shoot her!” 

Ruby stopped. 

“Put the gun down, but keep hold of me,” Ruby said, “Then Yang can let her go, because the smartest thing for you two to do is teleport out.” 

“They could take you with them,” Yang said. 

“I’m Aberrant,” Ruby said, “They can take me with them but they don’t even know if I’ve figured out a way to kill them yet. Putting his gun down and betting you let her go is the smart choice.” 

“Shit,” The man said. 

He used the edge of the table for leverage to clear the chamber of his pistol. Then, he set the gun down. Ruby could tell Yang was working on her breathing. She let the girl go and the girl teleported closer to the man. 

“Okay, so now we’ve decided not to hurt each other,” Ruby said, “And you don’t have a gun, which you couldn’t have used or you’d both be dead. And Yang isn’t going to hurt your daughter, or whoever, which she wasn’t going to do, because then you’d have killed me, and then she’d have killed you. Do you think-” 

The man let her go. She stumbled forward, corrected herself, then straightened up. The Post Human girl teleported again, now handing the man the cane. He took it and seemed to relish the release of weight from his right leg. As he took a breath, the girl signed at him with frantic energy. 

“Uh huh,” He said, “Yeah, I imagine so. I agree.” 

“What’s she saying?” Ruby asked. 

“Don’t know," the man said, “I don’t speak ASL.” 

“She wants you to learn.” Ruby said. 

“It’s really confusing,” The man said, “Anyway, you must have scared her when you broke the wall.” 

“Which one?” 

“The left side of the house. Is that not where you came in?” 

“No,” Yang said, “We came in the front door. What happened to that wall is that I was angry because I’m tired.” 

There was a soft whirring noise overhead. A searchlight swept over the house. 

“Yeah, well, somebody just noticed,” The man said, “That was a survey drone. Pleased as fucking Punch to meet you. Later.” 

The girl took his hand. They vanished in a flash of light. Ruby and Yang stared at each other. 

“I’m happy with how that ended,” Ruby said, “It was nice.” 

“Yeah, we should have a talk about it sometime after getting the fuck out of here.” 

“Okay.” 


End file.
